Monday, April 04, 2011

Those Dang Young'uns

I'm in the middle of some birthday festivities today, so will have to make this post short. It's hard to believe that I've reached the point in my life where I no longer have teenagers. My "baby" has turned 20 years old today. What will I use as an excuse for my lack of attention to detail? I used to say,

Sorry. I'm pregnant...hormones.

Toddlers! I'm just too busy.

Soccer! Hockey! Baseball! Cheerleading! Kill me now!

Teenagers! Seriously...kill me now.

Today I received an adoption call from a early - mid-20's couple. Initially, I was resistant. They seemed too young. Why do they know about a 20 year commitment on a cat??

Then it occurred to me -

I had 4 cats as a University student in my first apartment at 18 years of age. I was married at 21. Had a baby at 22.

What the hell did *I* know about a 20 year commitment? I didn't know anything, but I knew that they were my responsibility and I had them for life. I took my cats to the vets to be fixed and they lived to be more than 18 years old.

I guess the older *I* get, the younger the adopters seem to be. I need to get over it and not become one of those jaded rescuers that think "every young'un is gonna dump their cat at the first sign of an allergic boyfriend."

I got Ellie when I was 23. That was 13 yrs ago and she is now around 19.

I took her to the vet when I first got her as I promised the Humane Society I would. (I had found her in a backalley but it was obvious she had belong to someone at one time, so we took her there thinking her family would claim her.) They were going to put her down cause she had an upper respiratory infection and was under 4 lbs, as a result, she was a no fee adoption. I got her fixed a few months later when she fattened up and started going in to heat again.